VNX Exchange, the trading platform for tokenized venture capital assets, has announced a new addition to its Board of Directors, Dominique Valschaerts, former CEO of the Brussels Stock Exchange and former member of the Executive Committee of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
VNX is launching its project, a European digital asset marketplace aimed at bringing liquidity to the $620 billion global venture capital industry.
By creating a regulatory compliant and secure marketplace in the heart of Europe, VNX is aiming to reduce the barriers for regular investors and unlock venture capital as an asset class to a much broader global investor base, including those who previously may not have otherwise had the opportunity to invest in VC.
Tokenizing the investment portfolios of VC firms and startup accelerators will open them up for trading in a secure and investor-friendly environment. VNX plans to solve the venture capital industry’s liquidity problem that results in capital being locked up. This, in turn, will stimulate an influx of new capital into technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Venture capital plays a vital role in supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. Some of the world’s greatest companies, such as Apple, Google, and Amazon, were created with the support of venture capital. According to research, 43% of public US companies are VC backed, up to 82% of public US companies’ R&D expenses are attributed to VC-backed companies.
However, due to capital being locked and high barriers to entry, venture capital is quite a closed market with only a handful of large players that get the majority of hot startup deals and the most capital. At the same time, there are thousands of VC teams around the world that are actively seeking new startups and support entrepreneurs, struggling to raise capital for their funds. As a result, the VC market is focusing more and more on later stage deals, while most startup founders are struggling to access financing.
VNX can make the VC industry much more inclusive – both for entrepreneurs and would-be investors, who are now restricted from investing. By tokenizing their investments and making them tradeable on a liquid secondary market, VC fund managers will be able to significantly reduce the capital locked up for their existing investors (limited partners) and attract a much broader investor base. This, in turn, will improve fund economics and increase the chances for smaller and medium VC firms and accelerators to thrive and have more disposable capital to invest in promising startups.
Founded by Alexander Tkachenko, a Luxembourg serial entrepreneur and VC investor, and supported by a team of experts, VNX brings extensive experience in the venture capital industry as well as capital markets and technology entrepreneurship. As the founder and managing partner of the Luxembourg-based venture capital fund 2be.lu, Tkachenko understands the ins and outs of the venture capital industry, and founded VNX in order to solve its longstanding issues with capital availability and access to funding for entrepreneurs.
Alexander Tkachenko
Our mission is to make it simple and affordable for any VC investor or startup accelerator to make their investment portfolios liquid and thus access more capital,” said Founder and CEO Alexander Tkachenko, “while allowing almost anyone, be it large financial institutions or regular private investors, to invest in the future “Ubers” and “Teslas” of the world.